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Vanishing world

Radio waves

AWorld in Your Ear was originally an advertising slogan for the BBC World Service, and a very apt one, too. The phrase was later borrowed by that network's boss, John Tusa, for the title of his fourth book, then borrowed again by Radio 4 for the name of its weekly showcase of English-language radio from all round the globe. It is unique, this 30-minute slot at 5.30pm on Saturdays: nowhere else will you hear impassioned phone-ins from Jamaica, tribal weddings in South Africa, a fly-on-the-wall documentary made in an ambulance call centre in Melbourne or a romance-and-piano show from California with Nicolas Cage and Condoleezza Rice.

With sinking heart, you know what is coming next. Yes, A World in Your Ear is being axed. After a nine-year run, and having featured the output of more than 200 stations in more than 100 countries, it ends later this month. The BBC